Eastern Front veterans' group calls it a day

[Jim O]

Far-right Sint-Maartensfonds, the organisation set up by and for Flemish veterans of the Nazis' World War II offensive against the Soviet Union, will shortly cease to exist.

The association last hit the headlines five years ago, when Flemish Minister Johan Sauwens was forced to resign from the Flemish government after it was revealed that he had attended a social event staged by the far-right organisation.

Flemings were among the volunteers from a host of countries and regions under German occupation, who joined the Nazis in their offensive against Stalin's Red Army.

Those who fought claim that they did so in order to keep Europe free of communism.

However, many were also members of Hitler's infamous Waffen SS.

After the war, those who had fought on the Eastern Front were convicted of collaboration.

Some were executed; others imprisoned and most lost their civil rights, including the right to vote.

The Sint-Maartensfonds was set up in 1953 to offer help to wounded or destitute Eastern Front veterans and their families.

The organisation rarely made the news. However, that changed in 2001, when the then Flemish Minister Johan Sauwens was forced to resign from his post in the Flemish Government, after he attended an event staged by the Sint-Maartensfonds in his native Limburg province and it was revealed that he had been a member of the organisation for over 20 years.

The association has decided to call it a day, as most of its members have either died or are house-bound.

Publication of the organisation's magazine Berkenkruis will also stop.

Maintenance of Sint-Maartensfonds' garden of remembrance in the East Flemish village of Stekene will be taken over by the far-right youth movement VNJ (Flemish National Youth Association).

The VNJ will also organise an annual remembrance event for the remaining Eastern Front veterans.


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